Haunted
by TheahGrimes2015
Summary: Theah Bloodgoode is haunted by a dream that drives her to want to better protect Carl and Judith and her new friends.


Walking Dead

"Without Words"

Theah Bloodgood,native American born widowed mother of two murdered children taken by the people of Terminus. Out of retaliation she sends out word to stay away from Terminus and as a result, her tongue is cut out. Being self-conscious of her speech, she chooses to communicate with sign language thereby giving the impression that she is also deaf. That is up until she meets Beth and helps Beth escape.

-Later, they find the others in the freight cart. She and Beth break them out. Apprehensive of her intentions of this new stranger, they are relieved to see Beth and decide to give Theah the benefit of the doubt. They invite her to join them on their treacherous journey to D.C. The rest of the group begin to get the impression that the new girl and Eugene have a sorted history. There is immediate tension and distrust between them. As Eugene continues to chatter away about gaming, the new girl takes it upon herself to enforce the gift of sweet Silence for the others by sticking duct tape over his mouth with the words reading "do not remove until D.C." To which both Daryl remarks aloud "I'm really liking the new girl?" They hold their hands up for a hi-five to which she obliges and walks ahead. It is then that they realize that she isn't deaf at all.

On several occasions, she comes through for the others with their brush with death with walkers. She befriends Carol as they both lost a child. It is when she snatches away a wandering Judith from enclosing clutches of wayward walkers. She steps in an abandoned trap. The others come to her rescue. She has frightened Judith in her protective possession. She uses her flannel to make a make shift baby swaddle to keep Judith tightly and safe against her. They pull her out. Rick is concerned when he doesn't see Judith at first. She removes the swaddle to reveal his infant daughter. Rick embraces Judith in thankful relief. Without words, thanks Theah.

The tone has been set of understood trust through mere glances between Rick and Theah. He notices she is hurt. She had injured her ankle in the fall. He calls on Carol to tend to it. Meanwhile, Carl begins to notice the "romance developing between them and isn't liking the idea of his dad befriending someone who isn't his mother.

Theah is also apprehensive at the idea of Rick warming up to her at such a pace. It had been a while since she had lost her husband, she wasn't quite sure she remembered what it was like to be loved by someone. She was afraid that he would be turned off by the fact of kissing someone with only half a tongue and a speech handicap. In her mind, she was a freak. Who could possibly love a freak?

Carl plays every trick in the book to show his detest. Theah forgets for a time that her ankle is still healing when she attempts to chase him and they encounter a hoard of walkers in the corridor of a small abandon warehouse wherein the group had taken refuge. Carl starts shooting. Theah instructs him to get help. Even after the incident, she assures Carl that all is forgiven by continuing their chase. Carl learns that she is not so easily scared off by bugs and dead critters. Carl warms up to the idea of how ready she was to any invitation to play, he threw her way. Rick flirtatiously remarks about her being a bad influence on his son.

Rick returns from an errand to secure the grounds and find any sign of food from the deserted town nearby. Theah has a surprise for him. When he steps out of the vehicle, Theah sets Judith down, Judith takes four steps toward him. Rick kneels to catch her. He is overwhelmed with joy; almost to tears at the retrospect of thought that Laurie would've love to have been around for such a milestone. She approaches his side to stroke Judith and attempts to walk away. Rick grabs her hand at the wrist and again without words, a glance of thanks. Daryl and Carol look on in speculation to which they both agree it would be much deserved reprise for their disheveled leader. Rick makes other attempts to show his favor, she is hesitant to let him get too close: that is, kiss-ably close.

Theah often secured herself hi-up in tree clear of wayward "walkers". She was taking her turn to watch during sleep patrol, when she witnesses Abraham and Eugene flea the group for a private conference. She overhears terms of a transaction being made that involved terminating every other member of the group once they reached D.C. Theah tells Rick what she overheard. He and Daryl make it a point to keep them separate by sending them on separate errands with various group members just to see how well each other would fare without the influence of the other. Daryl and Theah are out on an errand shadowing Eugene. Daryl hints the group's speculation about the situation with her and Rick and the support of her to welcome whatever romantic intention Rick may have towards her. She confides her feelings of inadequacy and being a "freak". She changes the subject in direction to her inquiry of him and Carol.

She remarks by concluding "I'll tell you what Daryl, when the world has returned to some kind of normalcy, maybe we can double date."

"Whatever, girl…you know what I mean?"

You started it!

Daryl jokingly shoves her.

Eugene is walking a staggeringly slow pace in front of them.

"Keep walking, game boy!" exclaims Theah, poking at him with her rifle.

Meanwhile, Rick and Carol are working on a way to trick them into ratting on each other about the transaction. Somehow they find themselves engaging on a similar discussion involving their prospective objects of affection. Rick replies mockingly.

"I wasn't aware that I signed up for a dating service."

Carol expresses that such opportunity is long overdue and much deserved.

"After all, what's the worst that can happen? Besides, I've seen enough glances between you two to know that to not act, would be your biggest regret."

The abandon warehouse is baron and obsolete of the group's needs. They move on. They learn that fore-mentioned sorted history between Theah and Eugene. That Eugene was the one responsible for ratting Theah out and having her children taken from her. Meanwhile, Eugene begins to defame her credibility by influencing the group that she's the one that can't be trusted. But Daryl remarks

"Yeah, but we like her more than we like you."

It's when they get into a heated altercation and Eugene, makes the unforgivable error and refers to Theah as a "retard" that Rick takes action to end the dispute altogether. He orders for Eugene and Abraham have their weapons removed and their wrists and mouth "taped". Annoyed with both of them, Theah writes "I'm with Stupid and an arrow pointing to Abraham. On Abraham's shirt, the words "I'm Stupid." The group snickers.

Carl catches up between Rick and Daryl.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah…"

"I think I can get used to having Theah around. She's pretty awesome, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is pretty awesome."

"She's funny too."

"Ironically enough, she likes you both. What are the odds of being that lucky?" adds Daryl.

"Hey, Daryl…"

"Yeah?"

Rick gives him the bird behind Carl's back with a big grin.

Rick glances back to Theah who is walking alongside Michone. Theah smiles back bashfully.

They are halfway to D.C and normality seems more tangible. Aside from the loss of loved ones and the contribution they made to the group thus far, they are all remembered. No one knows what price will be paid once they arrive. The journey is not over yet, the cloud of uncertainty and gloom has not completely dissipated. They look over a sea of desolation and very elite few surviving "walkers". They discover a new temporary home more feasible for their needs. They secure a fortress. At night, they settle down and arrange a sleep patrol rotation. Theah is trying to put Judith down for the night and notices her fever. She tries an old trick for drawing down fever by massaging the legs. She discovers that the fever is the cause of teething. Theah soothes her with a song. James Taylor's "you gotta friend". Carl listens from a cot. The group listens in from their designated sleep spaces. Rick grabs a dusty, old acoustic guitar and finds a spot beside Theah. The Group begins to join in on the lullaby. Everyone turns in for the night. Rick sets the guitar aside. He closes in for a kiss. Theah takes his lead to welcome the gesture.

"I saw that!"

They pause momentarily in embarrassment.

"My son."

"Yeah, I know. He's good at it."

He closes in again.

Carl watches and realizes it's 'bout time his father had a little happiness for himself.

James Taylor "you gotta friend" reprise thru end credits.

After credits; cut to

Abraham and Eugene. Eugene has nodded off and his head falls on Abraham's shoulder. Abraham angrily shrugs him off. Eugene falls to the floor and it does nothing to shake him from his slumber. Abraham kicks him away.

Abraham has managed to free himself. He frees Eugene. They take justice for themselves and take Theah and precious Judith as hostages and make their own way to D.C. the Group awakens. Carol finds Rick's cot is empty. She sees Rick at the front gate. Rick senses someone has joined him

"Theah and Judith are gone." Informs Carol.

"So are Abraham and Eugene. They must have broken free and lured Theah from her post. Everyone awake?"

"I think so."

"Get Daryl and Michone."

"We're one step ahead of you, brother."

"We'll be back as soon as we can but not without Theah and Judith."

"The usual Protocol, Sheriff?"

"The usual."

As Rick has walked a distance ahead with Michone, Daryl gives a surprising goodbye kiss to Carol, which catches her off guard.

"Be safe."

Daryl catches up.

"What is it with you all?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You all and all that yucky love stuff."

"What's the matter, feeling left out?"

"No, just saying?"

"We love you, girl!"

Daryl tries to kiss her.

"Get away from me, Daryl!"

"You ever been in love, Michone?" inquires Rick.

"Don't remember. It was a very different time in a very different place."

"Yeah, it does seem long ago."

"I heard that." Adds Daryl.

"If the opportunity ever presents itself in the future, do yourself a favor, and take it. Trust me, you'll be a better person for it!" Rick advises.

"What he said." adds Daryl.

"Yeah, I hear you." Michone complies.

Abraham and Eugene are a half-day's journey ahead. Judith is balling.

"Shut that damn kid up!"

"Hey, genius, she's teething. Infants cry when they teeth. Why should I shut her up? She's crying for her daddy! And when they catch up to you, there is going to be hell to pay. Forget D.C., you're never going to make it. You screwed with the wrong man, when you took his little girl!"

"You think I'm afraid of killing you both?"

"Yeah, because if you weren't you would have done it already?

"Come on, Abraham, she's just trying to get in your head, to get you do something stupid. We're losing time, I don't like traveling at night."

"What's the rush, Eugene? D.C has been there for centuries, a few more days won't matter. Beside, no one is going to get cured anyway without you, right? Unless, of course you relay your secret to your girlfriend, here. But then, we would have no need for you, now would we? Honest Abe, had wasted all this time to collect on his end of the deal. Go figure. That would mean that he used you to keep him alive and get him to D.C. which makes you nothing but a glorified bodyguard to him, my friend. From what I heard about the terms of the deal and how everything is supposed to go down was that you intended to eliminate the group one by one and you guys take the cure and run with the dough. But who's to say that once we got there, he wasn't going to do the same to you? That would make you each other's bitch!

"Aren't we the noble heroine? Everyone knows you're sweet on Grimes. Don't think we ain't going to do anything short of humiliating you the same way you humiliated us. You're our bargaining chip. If Grimes cares about you as much as you think he does. He'll do what we say."

"I'm not so concerned with whether he comes for me or not. But I know he's coming for his baby daughter. By the way, you might want to work on your grammar, brainiac, if you want the D.C. big wigs to take you seriously! You don't want to put tape over a child's mouth, you'll kill her."

"Well, that would shut her up, won't it? Don't worry we'll leave holes for her nose."

"No, please, she's just a baby!"

"That will be about enough out of you both."

Theah is trying desperately to break from the tape and the binds as she sees Judith struggling to breath and breathing begins to become faint.

"What's going on, why ain't she crying?"

Theah tries to fight them off. She frees herself from the binds and the tape and picks up, Judith.

"She's dying. I told you jerk offs, you can't cover a baby's mouth. They don't know how to breathe through their nose like us."

"Can you fix it?"

"It's a child, and no I can't "fix" nothing if she dies."

"You can't do CPR and get air back into her?"

"She isn't an inflate-a-date, simonize. You can't breathe air into a child. If she dies, when she turns, I'm going to let her unleash hell on both of you."

"Move away from her!" Rick calls as he emerges from the trees.

He quickly glances at Theah and winks.

"The Game is about to change, boys."

The others follow and surround with weapons ready to fire.

"Looks like you're outnumbered. I no longer care about your little deal or this so called cure you think you have. The power you think you had over us, it ends right here, right now."

Abraham grabs Judith whose cries have become very faint.

"Be smart about this, Grimes. You don't want to shoot the man holding your little girl."

Rick shoots anyway.

"I'm done being smart."

Abraham drops Judith.

Rick orders for them to bound and gag Eugene.

Rick rushes to pick her up. And finds her in less than satisfactory condition.

"They taped her mouth."

"She's actually a lot better than she was. She's a survivor like her daddy."

Rick pulls Theah to him and kisses her.

Rick rises and puts his pistol execution style to Eugene's head.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you. I want to know everything you know."

"I can't."

"Try, it's the only thing keeping you alive."

"It's very complicated to even explain it. Just take me with you. We're almost there. You'll find out soon enough."

"I can't."

They bind Eugene and Abraham by the wrists to a tree.

As they move onward, Theah is walking at a slower pace. Trying to hold back her tears from the others. Rick notices her eyes to the ground. He allows the others to go on ahead. He walks beside her.

"I'm seeing tears. You aren't the crying type. You're stronger than that. So come on, talk to me."

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect her better."

"You did enough. She's still alive because of you. That's more than anyone can ask for. It's more than I can ever ask for. You are more than I can ever ask for."

Another kiss. Rick wraps his arm around her and pulls her in as they catch up to the others. Carol pulls her in and walks beside her.


End file.
